Abstract

Background: The population in Turkey, as well as globally, is aging, and frail patients appear more frequently in emergency departments. Our study aims to identify various frailty tools to stratify risk for patients in terms of inpatient mortality, the prevalence of hospitalization, the length of hospital stay, and 30-day readmission.

Materials and Method: In an emergency department, geriatric patients over the age of 65 were assessed using the PRISMA-7 questionnaire, the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), and the Identification of Seniors at Risk (ISAR) tool to predict the possibility of hospitalization, 30-day readmission, and mortality. In addition, demographic and socioeconomic parameters were analyzed.

Results: In total, 137 patients with a mean age of 80.19 ± 8.12 years were assessed. Both the CFS and ISAR tools failed to predict mortality, 30-day readmission, and hospitalization (p ＞ .05). The PRISMA-7 tool was not statistically related to mortality (p = .018) or hospitalization (p = .038) but did predict 30- day readmission (p = .677). The average number of hospitalization days of the patients was 9.96 ± 9.78 (1-45 days). There was no statistically significant relation between age, monthly income, distance to hospital, and polypharmacy to mortality, 30-day readmission, hospitalization, and outpatient clinic admission (p ＞ .05).

Conclusion: The PRISMA-7 questionnaire, but not the CFS or ISAR, might be used by geriatric emergency attenders to assess risk for hospitalization and mortality. However, the development of more standardized and prospective study protocols is needed to draw further conclusions.